Police investigating the murder of a missing teenager whose dismembered body was found in a suitcase near where she lived have arrested a local man who was questioned last night.

Terry Edmonds, 17, vanished on her way to meet her boyfriend, Nigel Fitzgerald, 26, on Easter Monday. Her family yesterday identified her remains, which were found by a car park in her home town of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on Saturday.

As forensic science officers continued a detailed examination of the area where the body was found, her mother, Helen Edmonds, laid flowers and a card near the scene, which is on a street parallel to the one where Terry lived in a hostel.

Yesterday officers conducted a search of her boyfriend's home and enquiries will be carried out in the area today.

Neighbours of Mr Fitzgerald, who lives with his mother and sister in Hadlow, near Tonbridge, said police arrived at the house on Saturday and officers, including one dressed in a white forensics suit, searched the small terrace home during the night.

Terry was last seen in north Tonbridge at about 6pm on Easter Monday when she was on her way to meet her boyfriend. Speaking to a local newspaper before the body was found, Mr Fitzgerald said he had dropped her off at 12.20pm that day outside the Pizza Hut in Tunbridge Wells where he works.

He said he later received a text message from her saying she was going to Maidstone and then a second saying she was on her way to Tonbridge. He was expecting to meet her later that day. "Terry said she wanted to talk to me about something but that it wasn't bad and we could talk after work," he said.

A colleague of Mr Fitzgerald's said he had last been seen at the pizza restaurant on Saturday.

A spokeswoman for Kent police said: "A postmortem has taken place. For operational reasons the cause of death is not being released at this time. All I can say is that we are carrying out a number of inquiries at various locations."

Terry, who had eight A-grade GCSEs and wanted to be a nurse, had moved out of her family home in January and was living in a hostel run by the Christian Alliance Housing Association in Tunbridge Wells. She continued to study at the Hugh Christie technology college in Tonbridge.

The body was discovered a day after an emotional press conference during which Mrs Edmonds appealed for her "bright, beautiful, headstrong, confident" daughter to get in touch.

She said they had rowed when her daughter moved out of the family home, also in Hadlow, because she wanted to be more independent. But she said there were no serious problems. They last spoke on Good Friday.